You used the best marketing strategies, chose the right channel and managed to capture the attention of few potential sales prospects. Great, the first stage of the sales funnel is successfully cleared. However, don’t start losing your enthusiasm after the first victory.
Stay determined as there is still a long way to go. The opportunities lying in your sales funnel are at constant risk; one mistake and your prospects might switch to your competitors. So, you need to keep finding new ways to engage and lock them in your ecosystem.
The secret to sales success — Engage your prospects
For engaging sales prospects, you must have a clear understanding of their needs, expectations, and challenges. Once you know what they want, then you can focus on building a lasting customer relationship.
“Offer your customers a long-term relationship, then do everything possible to build and maintain it”- Brian Tracy
Below are the best ways to engage your sales prospect successfully.
1. The friendly approach
There isn’t any magical potion for sales. I have hardly seen a prospect agreeing to invest in a solution right after the first call. The key is to convince them; not by being a typical sales person but by building trust and loyalty with a friendlier approach. They should feel comfortable speaking about their issues and concerns. Wouldn’t you freely share your problems with a friend you trust? Give them that confidence; set an impact so that they would willingly give you their precious time.
- Show a genuine interest in your prospect’s business issues and be polite while engaging with them.
- Keep your energy high throughout the buyer’s journey to ensure the prospect doesn’t lose interest at any point.
- If you have made any commitment (like sending an email or calling at a specific time), then do it without fail.
2. The power of social media
Social media can work wonders when it comes to sales, provided you use it wisely. It is the space where you can seamlessly engage with your prospects and make them feel valued. Follow your prospects on various social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter and interact with them. 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family.
- Actively track your prospects social media posts and comment on them to build rapport.
- If they have shared any informative blog, then DM and appreciate their work (use this as an opportunity to strike a communication with your prospect).
- Tag them in your post to reach their networks.
3. 24 x 7 availability
Round the clock availability is a must in sales. No call or email of your prospects should go unanswered. Even avoid delay in response as prospects are not ready to wait. “If you don’t take care of your customers your competitor’s will” — Bob Hooey. Your prospects need your instant attention.
- Add live chat to your site so that while browsing your website or product feature if a prospect has any query they can ask on the spot.
- Always check your social media site for any messages or comments.
- Consider managing your sales deals in a CRM software to get timely notifications whenever a prospect tries to reach you.
4. Exceed their expectations
Don’t you like surprises? Well, even your prospect does. Go an extra mile and delight your sales prospect by giving them more than they expect to be in their good books. Focus on making the buying experience more memorable; the prospect should feel happy in dealing with you. Prospects appreciate extra efforts and remember it.
- Give limited time discounts and offers to influence your prospect’s purchasing decisions.
- Consider giving a personalized gift to your prospects when you go to meet them for a product demo.
- Send greeting cards to high potential prospects on their birthdays with a gift voucher. Using sales automation tools you can even automate these emails.
5. Ask more questions
Meetings are the best way to engage prospects. Use these meetings to gather maximum information about them. Ask relevant questions and note their answers. I repeat ‘note your prospect’s answers’ because the valuable details they divulge can help you in converting them into paying customers. Your thoughtful inquiries will set an impression that you are here for the customers and are interested in helping them.
Ask questions like:
- What are the barriers preventing you from reaching your business goals?
- Could you elaborate the current problem and help me understand how it has affected your business?
- What level of service are you expecting?
- Are you currently using any product for overcoming your challenge? (If they answer yes, then ask further) Has it helped, or you are looking for something more in the product?
6. Persistence in pursuing them
Ensure you are persistent while trying to engage your prospects. Follow-up without giving up. 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up (Source). Nudge your prospects, but gently; they shouldn’t get offended with your emails or calls. Using sales email tracking, you can find out whether your prospects are opening or ignoring your emails. If they are repeatedly opening your emails that means they are interested but are clouded with some doubts that are holding them back. So instantly call and address those issues.
- Explore which medium of follow-up works for your prospect and then focus on refining it.
- Find interesting ways to follow-up (like adding Funny GIF or images to your emails).
- If they are ignoring your calls, then send a message stating the reason for your calls.
Wrapping up
The journey from prospecting to closing might seem long and difficult, but it is not impossible to complete. You only need to use the right prospecting tips, manage the deals successfully in your sales pipeline and use the right closing techniques to convert your prospects into paying customers.
Tools like Salesmate can help you with that. With this advanced tool, you can streamline your sales process, track your deal, create insightful sales report and automate various repetitive tasks.
Try Salesmate CRM to see how will it be beneficial for your company or get it touch with our team to explore Salesmate wide spectrum of features.
